707, Aging but Reliable, Still Flies President
The Boeing 707 that crashed here Thursday night was a 23-year-old plane with far fewer flight hours than other jets of its vintage.
The Avianca plane was the 592nd model to come off the 707 assembly line at Boeing. It was delivered to Pan American World Airways on June 30, 1967, and sold to Avianca on Feb. 25, 1977.
The doomed plane had flown 61,193 flight hours and landed 22,764 times. Most 707s of that vintage have averaged 80,000 flight hours.
Boeing said Friday that it did not know if the plane had recent problems. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to investigate that question, and Boeing sent a safety investigator, a pilot and a fuel systems expert to help the NTSB in its overall probe.
The Colombian radio network RCN reported that the plane had been plagued by mechanical problems recently, having been sent to the maintenance shop 37 times in the past four months. The radio did not say what the maintenance was for.
Known as a reliable and durable workhorse, the 707 is nevertheless no longer flying passengers in this country with two notable exceptions: Air Force One, the President’s plane, and its backup are 707s.
The 707 fell into disuse in the United States largely because of noise restrictions and the introduction of more fuel efficient and wider-bodied aircraft. Many 707s still fly elsewhere.
“It’s a real solidly built airplane,” said Jack B. Feir, a New York aviation consultant who specializes in aircraft appraisals. “It’s a tank.”
The 707 was Boeing’s first commercial jetliner. The last commercial version of the plane was built in 1978 but the company is still making military versions of it.
Avianca, the national airline of Colombia, which flies to Miami, New York and once a week to Los Angeles, is the oldest airline in the Western Hemisphere. Nevertheless, some of its pilots have acquired the reputation of not always being as conservative as their counterparts in the United States and Europe.
“They are cowboys,” said one source in the aviation industry who declined to be identified. “They will fly in mountains in bad weather. They do things more conservative American pilots wouldn’t do.”
An Avianca Boeing 747 crashed on approach to Madrid, Spain, in November of 1983, killing 181. Eleven survived.
In November of 1989 an Avianca 727 crashed near Bogota, killing all 107 aboard. Investigators confirmed that a bomb in the passenger cabin consisting of plastic explosive was the cause. A telephone caller claimed that a group of drug lords called “the Extraditables” planted the bomb in order to kill five police informants it said were on board.
Researcher Lisa Romaine contributed to this story.
